Cadence Column: Asia, December 12, 2016

It’s clear that China doesn’t want Trump to become the next US president. Beijing’s concerns over US politicians’ views has the Chinese media in full-swing.

Rather than being worried about a Chinese influence in US elections, the deeper concern is with Russia. But, if the Russians hacked the election to help Trump, that would mean the Russians were working against the will of their new best friends in China. Since unproven suspicions are on the table, let’s invent a more unfounded suspicion: The Chinese hacked the election to support Hillary and made it look like the Russians did it—but that couldn’t be true. One suspicion has seemingly faked evidence, the other has a motive, neither is substantial. In the end, one thing is clear: Asia wishes it could influence US elections more than it can. And, here we are.

Japan’s conflict with China also escalates. Chinese money is moving out of China. And, Trump’s battle of Boeing is, of course, influence by Boeing’s presence in China. The world has become significantly smaller, but that news only hit headlines this week.